High time we added a few photos (and videos!) of the boys. I've retrieved the Little Guy (H/B), who we rescued back around when we rescued Sandy, and he is doing so well that I'm going to have to cut back on his pellets so he doesn't gain too much more weight!

I have to say that I love love love my boars, even if they can't all live together in one happy little herd. (And even if the Little Guy is a rescue and I hopefully won't be keeping him for forever.)

Here is the Little Guy, snuggled in his igloo:
He is really cute, kinda skittish, and about eight months old. (And he has a fantastic dewlap.) I've noticed that his build is different from that of the other three - it's not just that he's younger, but his frame is different. He's larger than Guido was, but he is also a pointy-nosed smooth-haired pig; has anyone else noticed differences between the breeds similar to what I'm finding?

For example, Batman is a crested teddy, and he has a rounded, blunt nose and is overall a larger guinea pig than most others I've had.
Meanwhile, the brothers, who are Peruvians, are bigger than Batman and have larger heads and more square noses.
Of course, Sandy was also a Peruvian and she was much more delicate and blunt-nosed than the brothers, but I am considering that those differences may be due to sex.

Now, I know that the Little Guy is a rescue and he will hopefully move on to a forever home someday soon, but honestly I think if I had a large enough cage for him and Batman to share, they would be okay together.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karalianne/8052091238/ (video)
Those are all from while I was cleaning cages last week. They did scrap a bit later on, and I found bits of hair from both of them, so maybe it wouldn't work, but really in a proper-sized cage with all the stuff in it they might get along okay.

And now, for the piece de resistance!

On Thursday, I was working and listening to music and I heard a weird ch-ing sound. So I got up and went into the kitchen and realized it was chirping and definitely not a bird since the doors had been closed all day and we have a cat who considers birds to be toys. So I grabbed the camera and headed for the guinea pig room.

Apologies for the lighting at the beginning; I didn't want to turn on the light in the room right away because I knew he'd stop. I thought it was one of the brothers, but I was wrong. I don't know if it's always been Batman, because the first time I ever heard it was the night I brought the brothers home. But there you have it.

Alden, I did my best to get more shots of the Little Guy's ever-so-snorgle-able dewlap today. It was cage-cleaning day. I had the presence of mind to lay down one of the fleece blankets I use in their cages and set up the pen on top of that, then I tossed in the two cardboard tunnels I bought the brothers this summer and added some hay in the middle.

And then I added the Little Guy and Batman, so I could clean their cages and they could get to know each other again.

It went quite well, if you ask me. No fighting, just lots of humping on the Little Guy's part... and lots of attempts to hump on Batman's part. (Poor guy, he just can't seem to do it.) Nobody lost any hair, and while I think there were a few nips here and there, they were pretty obviously of the "what the - get away from me!" variety, rather than the "I KEEEEL YOU!" variety.

I got them into their respective cages and then moved on to the brothers' cage.

That's Squeak coming out of the tunnel.

Bubble is the one with his nose... er... entire HEAD in the hay.

Squeakers and his Farrah Fawcett hairdo!

And here's Bubble - I finally realized that one of the reasons I can tell them apart so easily (aside from Bubble's torn-in-half right ear) is that Bubble's hair is more like that of an Abby than Squeak's hair is. Squeak has more of a butt mullet, too.

Once the cages were all clean, I got some photos of everyone enjoying their new digs.

LOL, I think they conspire about how to best deal with the humans if they ever figure out how to escape. Except they leave Bubble out, and he's seriously the brains of the three so they're probably out of luck there.

Everyone is nice and healthy. Batman still seems a little light, but he is eating up a storm.

Well, when he's not sleeping, that is.

Bubble and his fantastic messy hair let me pet him on the nose pretty regularly.

Squeak is as mistrustful as ever. He's happy to take his favourite treats right from my fingers when I offer, though.

And I somehow managed to get the best photo ever of the Little Guy's dewlap. He's still a bit skittish, but he's pretty excited every time I come into the guinea pig room, and comes right up to the side of the cage to ask me for noms.

If you've read Bubble's Medical Thread, you know that he has a broken toe:

I had to separate the brothers after that, of course, so here's the current arrangement:

Batman trying to figure out what's going on:

Squeak decided his cave was for sleeping ON, not IN:

Bubble always knows which end is up, though:

Then Squeak changed his mind and went inside, too:

Here's the Little Guy being his cute self:

And Batman, asking for treats!

They're all doing really well, weight-wise. Batman is still smallest, and last week the Little Guy weighed more than Bubble! Nobody is underweight, though, so I am happy with their sizes. Batman's diet has been sorted out and I'm not concerned about calcium anymore, and I've started Bubble on the same diet since moving him out of sharing with Squeak as I saw some thicker deposits than I liked. (So hard to tell who it is when they share space.)

He's still walking on the outside, but the swelling is all gone and he doesn't react with pain when I press on it anymore. So I'm calling "healed"!

Sadly, he can never live with his brother again. I've tried a few times in the last while, and every single time Squeak challenges Bubble and chases him around the cage. There's nose-offs and lunging and poor Bubble ends up trying to climb out of whatever enclosure they're in. Doesn't matter the size of the space, either. Yesterday he was crying when I rescued him, and he kept telling me how horrible Squeak is after I had him safely in my arms. Took him a while to calm down, and they'd only been together for maybe 10 minutes. :(

(Squeak chasing Bubble. Not yesterday, by the way. Yesterday they were in a really big space.)

(This is Bubble in the foreground, begging me to save him from his brother. Not yesterday, by the way. Yesterday they were in a really big space.)

(Squeak on the right, during a nose-off. Not yesterday, by the way. Yesterday they were in a really big space.)

Moving right along...

You know who DOES get along really well?

Batman and Bandit (the Little Guy; he really isn't very little anymore, what with closing in on 1400g and all, even if his little compact body is smaller than the others')!

(Look at how much bigger Batman looks! You'd never guess he's a good 100g lighter!)

Here are a few shots of Bandit on his own:

(Dude loves his hay.)

(Check out those beautiful markings! He's such a handsome fellow!)

And, of course, I have to finish with some glamour shots of my Batman.

(Look at those lips!)

(He's cleaning himself, I promise.)

(I admit to being fascinated by his bum.)

(This is from a few weeks ago. He checked out his cave first thing!)

Health-wise, they're all doing well. Batman's slowly getting back up closer to 1300g. Bandit, as I said, is closing in on 1400g. Squeak is over 1400g and happy to stay there. The one I'm a little concerned about now in terms of weight is Bubble, as he's down around the same as Batman. I can't figure out why, either, as he's eating the exact same thing as everyone else. Also, Batman is drinking like twice as much water as everyone else, which is weird. I'm keeping track of water intake - one thing that's good about everyone living separately, I guess!

At some point I'm going to try Squeak and Batman and see how they do. I already know Batman and Bubble can't be together, but maybe Batman and Squeak. I know Bandit and Batman would be lovely cagemates, but of course the problem there is that Bandit isn't a permanent piggy (or at least, he's not supposed to be). He's a foster (web site for the rescue is nearly ready) and will hopefully find a new home. So I just let them play together sometimes.